Beastie Boys win $1.7 million in copyright battle

The Beastie Boys have been awarded $1.7 million in damages for copyright infringement.

The hip-hop group’s lawyer, Kevin Puvalowski, had been seeking at least $2 million in compensation from bosses at Monster Beverage Corp., after they admitted to using the rappers’ songs without permission in a 2012 online video tribute to late band member Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch.

The defendant’s attorney, Reid Kahn, claimed his clients incorrectly thought they had the authority to use the music, which included “Sabotage” and “Make Some Noise,” and on Wednesday asked jurors at New York’s Manhattan federal court to award the band no more than $125,000, as the Beastie Boys’ demands were “contrary to common sense.”

However, the jurors sided with the legendary rap stars when they delivered their verdict on Thursday.

The decision wrapped up an eight-day trial, during which surviving members Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond and Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz took the stand to give evidence and revealed they had promised their late bandmate that they would fight any commercial exploitation of the band’s music.